Tunnel-segment.



-N o.852,916. PATENTED MAY 7, 1907. F. P. VANDEVORT.

TUNNEL SEGMENT.

.APPLIOATIOH FILED MAY 22, 1906.

WITNESSES INVENTDR ATTORNEYS toward each other from the web side of the.

UNITED STATES FRANK F. VANDEVORT, OF GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-FOURTH TO HENRY JAPP,

OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ONE-FOURTH TO JALIES FORGIE, OF RICHMOND HILL, NEIV YORK, AND ONE-FOURTH TO ERNEST MOIR, OF LONDON, ENGLAND.

TUNNEL-SEGMENT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented may '7, 1907.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK F. Yaxnnvon'r, a citizen of the United States of America, residing in Germantown, in the county of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented. certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of- Tunnel- Segments, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of wrought iron or steel segments for lining tubular tunnels, which 1 form the subject of Letters Patent Noff lthe tunnel segment; with flanged ends as 806,673, granted to Henry Japp, December 5th, 1905.

The object of my invention is to produce 2 an economical and efiicient wrought 11'011 or i steel segment for the purpose in question.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the first step in the production of the article; Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a next step in the process; and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the segment looked at from the other side; and Fig. 4 is a perspective view shot v a modified form of segment partially comp et-ed.

In carrying out my invention, I first roll a channel of about the section illustrated in Fig. 1, and of a width equal to either the length or breadth of the desired segment. The channel may he rolled of: a sulficient length to cut two or three or more segment blanks from it. Theinner faces a, a, of the channel are rolled to be parallel witheach other, while the outer faces I), b, are inclined channel toward the ed es of the flanges. The inclination-is such t lat when adjacent segmentsare fitted together, those faces will -lie in planes radiating frorn'the axis of the tunnel. I

I prefer ,to roll the channel with edge grooves x on the flanges (Fig. 1), for the usual calking strips along the flanges of the segments.

The web of the channel may be rolled flat, as in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, or curved as in Fig. 4.

I prefer to roll the channel of such size a that its nidth shall constitute the width or 1 length of the segment measured circumferentially of the tunnel when the finished segments are in place. The channel having 1 been cut or rolled to the proper length, I then provide end pieces C, C, of the proper size and by electrical means or otherwise I weld these end plates to the opposite ends of the web and flanges of the channel bars to make well as flanged sides. These end pieces may have straight edges, as in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, or curved as at C in Fig. 4, according as the 1 web of the channel or bottom segment is flat or curved.

By the described method of operation I am enabled to produce economically wroughtiron or. steel flanged tunnel segments with sharp corners, calculated to successfully i stand the strain, stresses, and pressures to which tunnel segments may be subjected in i use.

I I claim as my invention l 1. The herein described tunnel segment,

1 consisting 0fa channel bar with plates welded to the ends of the web and flanges of the channel.

2. The herein described tunnel segment,

consisting of a channel bar with the inner ifaces of the flanges parallel to each other, i and the outer faces inclined and nit-h plates welded to the ends of the web and flanges of ivthe channel.

In testimony whereof I have signed my i name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

i FRANK F. VANDEVORT. g Witnesses EDNA W. CoLLms,

i HUBERT HOWSON. 

